Natural wood shingles, shakes and ceramic or clay tiles have been used for years to provide roofing and other construction materials. Their pleasing appearance however has to be weighed against the high source, production and installation costs of these materials. In addition, the propensity of wood shakes and shingles or ceramic or clay tiles to deteriorate results in a short lifetime and diminishes their usefulness and other attractive aspects. In fact, due to harsh environmental conditions in different climates, such as wildfires, hail and extreme temperature changes, many construction materials have been found to be completely unworkable or deemed unacceptable because the products do not meet even the minimum safety standards required by law.
Many attempts have been made to produce a commercially feasible process for producing a durable, relatively inexpensive roofing shingle that is easy to install, resistant to weathering, and simulates a wood shake or slate shingle. The need to replace natural materials has led to the development of products which include a variety of synthetic materials such as cement, asbestos, fiberglass, metals and asphalt. The prior art discloses countless examples of laminated asphalt shingle sheets divided into tabs or tongues intended to imitate the subtle variegation of abutting natural shingles and to provide a relatively inexpensive alternative to tile, slate and wood roofing shingles. However, the substantially planar appearance and artificial look of these materials has made them considerably less pleasing to the eye than natural materials. Additionally these materials have useful lifetimes which are much shorter than the structure which they are designed to protect and are made of environmentally unfriendly materials that are not easily amenable to being disposed of or recycled.
In an attempt to depart from the look of artificiality provided by most shingles, high-end recycled products that imitate the appearance of wood shakes or shingles or slate have been produced. Although these products reportedly have long lifetimes and increased environmental friendliness, often these products are expensive to produce and are only capable of imitating the appearance of one type of natural product, either wood or slate, but not both wood and slate. Many types of recycled shingling products require complex installation procedures that can only be performed with special equipment by trained personnel. Additionally, the cost for recycled materials is rising at a rapid pace due to the demand for their use in ‘green’ products, thus limiting the potential cost benefits of using recycled materials.
None of the prior art examples have solved all the existing needs of the shingling industry. None have produced a durable construction panel providing the look of natural materials, while being versatile, simple to install and cost-effective to produce. Nor do any of the shingles made of recycled materials permit easy installation using commonly available tools standard in the roofing industry.
Thus there remains a need for a rugged durable construction panel that produces the pleasing look of slate, ceramic tiles, wood shakes or shingles, while at the same time being inexpensive and easy to construct from readily available, environmentally friendly materials which is likewise simple and inexpensive to install. There is also a continuing need for a novel material that can be readily be molded into these construction panels. Another need in the construction panel arena includes a desire for a construction panel with a simplified design that includes course-to-course offset marks that result in an easy to install, natural, random appearing surface. Quick installation and a minimum of panel tooling costs will impact considerably on the cost of manufacturing and installing the panel.